Bibcode
Biller, B. A.; Vos, Johanna; Bonavita, Mariangela; Buenzli, Esther; Baxter, Claire; Crossfield, Ian J. M.; Allers, Katelyn; Liu, Michael C.; Bonnefoy, Mickaël; Deacon, Niall; Brandner, Wolfgang; Schlieder, Joshua E.; Dupuy, Trent; Kopytova, Taisiya; Manjavacas, E.; Allard, France; Homeier, Derek; Henning, Thomas
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 813, Issue 2, article id. L23, 6 pp. (2015).
Advertised on:
11
2015
Citations
60
Refereed citations
56
Description
As part of our ongoing NTT SoFI survey for variability in young
free-floating planets and low-mass brown dwarfs, we detect significant
variability in the young, free-floating planetary-mass object PSO
J318.5–22, likely due to rotational modulation of inhomogeneous
cloud cover. A member of the 23 ± 3 Myr β Pic moving group,
PSO J318.5–22 has Teff =
{1160}-40+30 K and a mass estimate of 8.3 ±
0.5 MJup for a 23 ± 3 Myr age. PSO J318.5–22 is
intermediate in mass between 51 Eri b and β Pic b, the two known
exoplanet companions in the β Pic moving group. With variability
amplitudes from 7% to 10% in JS at two separate epochs over
3–5 hr observations, we constrain the rotational period of this
object to >5 hr. In KS, we marginally detect a variability
trend of up to 3% over a 3 hr observation. This is the first detection
of weather on an extrasolar planetary-mass object. Among L dwarfs
surveyed at high photometric precision (<3%), this is the highest
amplitude variability detection. Given the low surface gravity of this
object, the high amplitude preliminarily suggests that such objects may
be more variable than their high-mass counterparts, although
observations of a larger sample are necessary to confirm this. Measuring
similar variability for directly imaged planetary companions is possible
with instruments such as SPHERE and GPI and will provide important
constraints on formation. Measuring variability at multiple wavelengths
can help constrain cloud structure.
Based on observations made with ESO Telescopes at the La Silla Paranal
Observatory under program ID 095.C-0590.